Why American Indians don't mind 'Redskins'

FILE - In this Oct. 7, 2013, file photo, Oneida Indian Nation leader Ray Halbritter speaks in Washington, calling for the Washington Redskins NFL football team to change its name. Oneida Indian officials who oppose the Redskins nickname as a slur will meet with NFL officials next week in New York, a tribe spokesman said Friday, Oct. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
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FILE - In this Oct. 7, 2013, file photo, Oneida Indian Nation leader Ray Halbritter speaks in Washington, calling for the Washington Redskins NFL football team to change its name. Oneida Indian officials who oppose the Redskins nickname as a slur will meet with NFL officials next week in New York, a tribe spokesman said Friday, Oct. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
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Everything about the Redskins’ mascot seemed oppressive, regressive and downright offensive, but that number — that number kept staring back.

A few years ago, in the most recent poll on the subject, the National Annenberg Election Survey asked 768 self-identified American Indians whether they were offended by the name of Washington’s NFL team. Ninety percent said no.

To me, this meant one of two things: 1) All the fuss, all the hoopla, all the fervor over changing the Redskins’ name was absurd if the group that was supposed to be insulted took no offense. 2) The poll was garbage.

So I did my own survey. I went up to Barona, talked to 25 American Indians, and asked whether they had any issue with “Redskins” being the name of the Chargers’ opponent today. Eighty-eight percent said no.

Case closed, right?

Not quite. After three days on an Indian reservation, I can say this with conviction: The push for this mascot change is absolutely necessary.

As you may know, members of the Oneida Indian Nation met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday as part of an effort to erase the Redskins’ 81-year-old name. They argue that the dictionary-defined slur perpetuates discrimination toward American Indians while caricaturing an entire race.

The San Francisco Chronicle, meanwhile, announced Thursday that it would no longer use the word “Redskins” in print, and last month, President Obama said he would think about changing the mascot if he were in team owner Dan Snyder’s position.

Upon first glance, expunging a moniker highlighting an ethnic group’s skin color seems like a no-brainer. If the Yellowskins, Brownskins or Blackskins were ever pitched as a mascot, national outrage would immediately ensue.

American Indians, however, don’t seem to get too worked up on the matter. And if you take a moment, it’s easy to see why.

When I asked residents of the Barona reservation whether they have a problem with “Redskins,” the majority of them laughed and said no. But it wasn’t necessarily because they supported the mascot. It was more because, to them, changing a team name would be the equivalent of putting a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound.

“I believe a lot of people are picking at little things right now when there are a lot more important things to be looked at — like education,” said Tina Cruz in the parking lot of Barona Indian Charter School. “That’s way more important than picking out a mascot or how to describe a Native American. It’s ridiculous, to be honest.”

Added a 20-something male who did not want to be named: “There are more pressing issues. What about the youth on the reservation? What about the suicide rate? There are bigger and more important problems on the reservations with Indian people than to just worry about a football team.”

American Indians have the highest suicide, teen pregnancy, child mortality and school dropout rates in the country. On large reservations, the extreme poverty rate is more than six times the national average, which is part of the reason why Indians have the lowest life expectancy, too.

Personally, I’ve never had such a large percentage of interview subjects refuse to give their names, and the reason was made crystal clear. As Barona Recreation Department Assistant Director Brian Van Wanseele explained, “You gotta understand, we’ve been lied to, we’ve been stolen from — people are going to be wary of outsiders here.”

Also, I should point out that I talked to some Barona residents who cherish the Redskins name.

Christopher Curro said he takes pride in the name and would only be offended if it were changed. Bonnie LaChappa said she had just bought a Redskins jersey for her husband. Torrey Brown said she appreciates that American Indians have at least some mainstream representation.

And really, that was the thing.

If there’s one universal feeling among the American Indians I spoke with last week, it isn’t necessarily that they are oppressed or bullied — it’s that they are ignored. In the words of Dr. Joely Proudfit, a Native Studies professor at Cal State San Marcos, “we are an invisible community.”

This is why, regardless of whether they represent the views of most American Indians, I think it’s essential that members of the Oneida Indian Nation are speaking out. They’re getting people thinking. They’re getting people talking. They’re creating a conversation that, ironically, might cease if they actually get what they want.

Before delving into this story, I was utterly opposed to the Redskins as a mascot. I thought it reinforced stereotypes and spoke volumes about our nation’s ignorance toward a race.